I've been interested in this after having heard about it. I enjoyed Persona 4 and SMT: Devil Survivor (looking forward to P3P!), but I've been a bit tenative with the first-person aspect. I'm not entirely sure I would enjoy it and think I'd actually get a bit sick after a while... but it sounds pretty interesting and I'm a sucker for Atlus games, so I may just have to check it out. Thanks for the review! :D

I wouldn't say Strange Journey is a departure from the SMT we are used to, but merely a return to the SMT games of old. Personally I would have drawn comparisons to the relatively recent remake of Persona for the PSP, or draw comparisons to Etrian Odyssey, ESPECIALLY since Strange Journey is running off the Etrian Odyssey engine. I personally would have summed up SMT as a more forgiving and story-driven (sort of) Etrian Odyssey game with Shin Megami Tensei dressing.

But I really do love the game for striking up just the right amount of difficulty without feeling overly cheap, while offering all that demon fusing goodness that makes Shin Megami Tensei games so addictive and all the map exploration that makes Etrian Odyssey a worthy timesink. I would recommend the game to any dungeon crawler buff, seeing as this game is much more a game about map charting and strategy than it is about its relatively thin story about hunting down MacGuffins. That, and the 1st person view in Strange Journey is way less nauseating than Persona PSP. Strange Journey is definitely worth a good 50+ hours in your DS slot for anyone who craves an RPG with an old school feel without all the old school frustration.

Haven't finished it, but I have to agree. My only complaint is that the press turn system hasn't returned from Nocturne, but otherwise it's a fun game that's well executed. There is the caveat that, like any SMT game, you should go in expecting more difficulty than your typical run of jRPGs.

I have to admit that it sounds a lot like Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, gameplay-wise. You had to "convince" demons to join you in that, too. All the Shin Megami Tensei games have a demon (or persona, etc.) fusion system. I'll play it as long as it still has Mara (I jest). I might give it a look, but I prefer Persona 3/4 to Nocturne (still haven't finished it...), so I probably won't finish it :P. My only question is: does it have multiple endings?

aaron552:I have to admit that it sounds a lot like Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, gameplay-wise. You had to "convince" demons to join you in that, too. All the Shin Megami Tensei games have a demon (or persona, etc.) fusion system. I'll play it as long as it still has Mara (I jest). I might give it a look, but I prefer Persona 3/4 to Nocturne (still haven't finished it...), so I probably won't finish it :P. My only question is: does it have multiple endings?

It has three endings: Law, Chaos, and Neutral. And it is definitely worth playing through all three.

Got it last week and have to say your review is spot on, though it's always been a darker series with P4 having probably the lightest mood of any of the SMT titles I've played. Also at the end you say this is based on the DS version is this implying that there is more than one version.

Great review! The demon negotiation system sounds like the one used in the SMT: Devil Summoner series. I played the latest Devil Summoner game, but I didn't love it the way I loved Persona 4 and Devil Survivor. It was very well done, though. I liked the demon negotiation system a lot in Devil Summoner, so I can't wait to try this game!